Cast announced for Theatre Royal Bath's festive 2024-25 pantomime

Theatre Royal Bath is delighted to announce popular children’s television presenter from Channel 5’s Milkshake! and award-winning pantomime star, Olivia Birchenough will take centre stage in the magical pantomime, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs this Christmas, alongside Bath favourite Jon Monie as Muddles and EastEnders’ Nick Wilton as Dame Dilly.

Presented by UK Productions, the wonderfully traditional show will appear at the Theatre Royal for the festive season from Thursday 12 December 2024 to Sunday 12 January 2025.

When the magic mirror declares Snow White to be ‘the fairest of them all,' the vain, wicked queen flies into a jealous rage and demands her revenge. Making her escape Snow White discovers a cottage in the forest inhabited by seven dwarfs who welcome her warmly into their home. But danger soon returns when a mysterious old lady arrives at their door selling apples. With a new script by Bath’s all-round pantomime legend Jon Monie, this thrilling fairy-tale tells the story of a beautiful princess trying to flee the clutches of her evil step-mother with the help of her friends the seven dwarfs, a delicious Dame and her hilarious son, and a handsome Prince, who all come to Snow White’s rescue. Bursting with comedy, great songs, stunning dance routines, beautiful costumes and plenty of audience participation, this festive extravaganza is guaranteed to delight audiences of all ages.

Martin Dodd, Producer of the pantomime Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, said: “Our spectacular production of Snow White has all the ingredients to be the perfect festive treat for the whole family - a brand-new hilarious script by the fabulous Jon Monie, Dame extraordinaire and Bath stalwart Nick Wilton returning to the Theatre Royal, and the magnificent Olivia Birchenough, reprising her award-winning performance in the title role, not to mention a handsome Prince and seven hilarious dwarfs. With lavish sets and costumes, sensational song and dance numbers, not to mention bucket loads of laughs, and more casting to come, whistle while you work and pick up your tickets now!”

Image: Olivia Birchenough as Snow White with Jon Monie as Muddles and Nick Wilton as Dame Dilly

Award-winning Olivia Birchenough, much-loved children’s television presenter from Channel 5’s Milkshake!, is set to play the role of Snow White. Olivia has been presenting Channel 5’s leading children’s channel, Milkshake! for the last twelve years. She was crowned Best Leading Female at both The Great British Pantomime Awards and The Panto Insider Awards in 2017. Olivia has previously starred in the title role in the pantomimes Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in theatres across the UK. She made her West End debut in the live children’s science show, The Ministry of Science, when it transferred to the Savoy Theatre last year, after touring internationally. As well as presenting on-screen each morning, Olivia has starred in Milkshake!’s many theatre tours and Bop Box series in venues nationwide. Her stage credits also include UK tours of Mobile for The Paper Birds and Power Games, and Rodin Reflections at London’s Sadler’s Wells. Her television credits also include Festive Fun, Summer Fun, and Move and Shake with Olivia! on Channel 5.

Jon Monie - actor, writer, presenter and comedian - returns by popular demand to star as Muddles, and has also written the script for this year’s show. Marking his 22nd pantomime at the Theatre Royal, Jon has starred in a record number of Bath panto performances - now numbering over 1,150 since 1996 - and continues to delight audiences whenever he appears on stage. An award-winning writer, Jon’s pantomimes are also staged by UK Productions in theatres across the country. His script for Beauty and the Beast, which played Bath in 2019 starring Jon in the role of Louis La Plonk, won Best Script at the Great British Pantomime Awards. This spring, Jon starred as Joseph Grimaldi in the world premiere production of Slapstick! staged at The Old Theatre Royal in Bath’s Orchard Street. His recent television credits include appearances in Bridgerton for Netflix, The Nevers for HBO/Sky, Moominvalley for Sky, and BBC’s Showtrial and The Outlaws. Jon is also a long-standing member of improvisational comedy group Instant Wit, who he performs with on a regular basis. 

Nick Wilton makes a welcome return to Bath to star as Dame Dilly Donut. Nick has previously entertained Bath panto audiences as Dame Nanny Nora in Sleeping Beauty in 2023, Widow Twankey in Aladdin in 2022, Polly La Plonk in Beauty and the Beast in 2019, Nursie in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 2017, Widow Twankey in Aladdin in 2016 and Dame Trott in Jack and the Beanstalk in 2015. He has played the iconic pantomime role of Dame in theatres nationwide for twenty-five years. On television, Nick is best known as Market Inspector Mr Lister in EastEnders, appearing as a series regular since 2008. His screen credits also include Dreamland, Heartbeat, Doc Martin, The Bill, Casualty, Carrott’s Lib, and the children’s shows Jackanory and Big Meg, Little Meg. 

Alongside the company of professional actors this year’s pantomime will also feature the delightful young dancers from Bath’s Dorothy Coleborn School of Dance, with further casting to be announced.

2024 sees Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs return to the Theatre Royal for only the fourth time in thirty-three years, after previously proving a huge hit with Bath audiences in the 1991/92, 2012/13 and 2017/18 panto seasons. Hot on the heels of last year’s acclaimed production of Sleeping Beauty, Martin Dodd’s UK Productions return to the Theatre Royal this December, marking their twenty-seventh year of presenting the Theatre Royal’s Christmas pantomime.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs appears at the Theatre Royal Bath from Thursday 12 December 2024 to Sunday 12 January 2025. Tickets are on sale at the Theatre Royal Bath Box Office on +44 (0)1225 448844 and online at www.theatreroyal.org.uk.